What's Pshat II
This past week I noticed two disturbing trends in MO shuls.
The first is that in two different shuls that I davened in last week, they blew the shofar either immediately before or immediately after the repetition of Shemonah Esreih in addition to blowing it in the customary place, immediately after "aleinu" and prior to "L'David".
The second is that more and more shuls are scheduling an early reading of Selichos on motsai Shabbos (around 10:30 p.m. rather than midnight or 1 a.m.).
These may seem to some like small matters but I think they are symptomatic of a trend of avoiding mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice) in our observance of halacha. Blowing the shofar early allows men who need to catch a train to hear shofar before finishing davening by themselves and running for the train. Is this a good thing? I'm not so sure. Perhaps it would be better for them to make the next train, especially in Elul.
The early selichos is even harder to fathom. What started years ago as a rare phenomenon in kehilas that had older populations has become a major trend in mainstream shuls. In a number of shuls the largest crowds attend the 10:30 p.m. Selichos.
I defer to Simcha and others on the halachic issues raised by saying Selichos prior to Chatzos on motsai Shabbos. I understand that R. Moshe Feinstein, zt'l was somewhat lenient on this issue (but I believe his teshuva was focused on selichos during the week, not on motsai Shabbos but even with R. Moshe it was a bedieved, not a l'chatchilah).
People will stay up late for all kinds of narishkeit. Why is it so hard to go to selichos at midnight on a motsai Shabbos (especially since the day is long enough that you can take a nap on Shabbos afternoon)?
This past week I noticed two disturbing trends in MO shuls.
The first is that in two different shuls that I davened in last week, they blew the shofar either immediately before or immediately after the repetition of Shemonah Esreih in addition to blowing it in the customary place, immediately after "aleinu" and prior to "L'David".
The second is that more and more shuls are scheduling an early reading of Selichos on motsai Shabbos (around 10:30 p.m. rather than midnight or 1 a.m.).
These may seem to some like small matters but I think they are symptomatic of a trend of avoiding mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice) in our observance of halacha. Blowing the shofar early allows men who need to catch a train to hear shofar before finishing davening by themselves and running for the train. Is this a good thing? I'm not so sure. Perhaps it would be better for them to make the next train, especially in Elul.
The early selichos is even harder to fathom. What started years ago as a rare phenomenon in kehilas that had older populations has become a major trend in mainstream shuls. In a number of shuls the largest crowds attend the 10:30 p.m. Selichos.
I defer to Simcha and others on the halachic issues raised by saying Selichos prior to Chatzos on motsai Shabbos. I understand that R. Moshe Feinstein, zt'l was somewhat lenient on this issue (but I believe his teshuva was focused on selichos during the week, not on motsai Shabbos but even with R. Moshe it was a bedieved, not a l'chatchilah).
People will stay up late for all kinds of narishkeit. Why is it so hard to go to selichos at midnight on a motsai Shabbos (especially since the day is long enough that you can take a nap on Shabbos afternoon)?
posted by MoChassid @ 10:38 AM
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